The Lisbon Strategy's Empowerment of Core Executives: Centralizing and Politicizing EU National Co-Ordination

Susana Borrás, B. Guy Peters

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    Abstract

    This paper studies the effects of the Lisbon Strategy on the way in which national executives co-ordinate EU policy at the domestic level. Comparing seven countries (Denmark, the United Kingdom [UK], Austria, Slovenia, Spain, France and Poland) it finds evidence that the Lisbon Strategy has been advancing (further) centralization and politicization in national patterns of EU policy co-ordination, empowering core executives. The Lisbon Strategy's ideational elements (‘grand’ goals and politically visible targets) as well as organizational requirements (Spring Council, national programming and annual reports) are factors behind this phenomenon. These results have implications for the literature on Europeanization, international politics, and governance studies in what is eminently an empirical research agenda about how far and how changes in international governance architectures affect the redistribution of power within national executives.
    Original languageEnglish
    JournalJournal of European Public Policy
    Volume18
    Issue number4
    Pages (from-to)525-545
    ISSN1350-1763
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2011

    Keywords

    • Empowerment
    • European Union
    • Europeanization
    • Executive Politics
    • Horizontal co\-ordination
    • National Core Executives
    • New Modes of Governance
    • Policy co\-ordination

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